The Scarborough Board of Education will delve into four proposed solutions to overcrowding at the town’s schools this fall, following community outreach and education this summer.

The board has voted unanimously to move forward with and vet the School Building Advisory Committee’s recommended possibilities:

• A K-3 consolidated school at a lower cost than the $160 million proposal rejected by voters last November

• An expansion of the town’s three primary schools and middle school

• A new, fourth primary school

• A new school for Grades 2-3

The proposals for a K-3 school and the Grades 2-3 school entail a shuffling of the grade levels at schools to help alleviate overcrowding; the other two maintain the current buildings’ grade structure.

The advisory committee, consisting of nine “leadership” members and over 50 residents, began meeting weekly in February to develop the four concepts, dubbed Phase 1. In the second phase, to be conducted in the fall, the solutions will be further vetted, including cost estimates.

“These four things are what the committee recommended should go forward to Phase 2 for consideration,” said Peter Hayes, chair of the committee. “Get the right enrollment numbers, get the right construction numbers so we understand whether it fits within the guidelines.”

Meanwhile, the SBAC’s communications committee will continue to work this summer to educate residents about the four options and garner feedback, which could result in other ideas gaining steam.

“We’re going to have tables at every event this summer looking for feedback, handing out flyers, giving people some information about what the current ideas are,” said Elizabeth von Stade, a communications committee member. “The more broadly we can share this information, the better for all of us.”

Don St. Germain, another member of the communications committee, said introducing residents to the four solutions and keeping them engaged throughout the process is critical to coming up with a proposal that will pass at the polls. It’s also critical in gaining residents’ trust, he said.

“The important thing is that there are four solutions that we can query our citizenry about, to say, ‘What do you think about this option?'” he said. “Just the fact of doing that and asking that question is the important thing. (No matter) what they say, they’ve had the opportunity to be engaged.”

For more information on the four solutions and to contact the committee with questions and feedback, go to the committee’s page on school department’s website, scarboroughschools.org/building-project.